


For Those That Follow

by jediluke



Category: Annihilation (2018 Garland), Star Wars
Genre: Annihilation AU, Armitage Hux - Freeform, Botanist!Hux, Bottom!kylo, Inspired by Annihilation (2018), Kylo Ren - Freeform, Kylux - Freeform, M/M, Multiple Deaths, Science, Top!hux, gore (?), graphic descriptions of death, i don't even know at this point, im not a botanist but i do love plants, possible alien sex, that being said if something isn't scientifically correct i appologize, unexplained
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 12:32:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15949418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jediluke/pseuds/jediluke
Summary: No one understood what it was.They called it "the shimmer". The walls of the otherworldly substance had the appearance of oil on black pavement, of bubbles shimmering in the summer sunlight after being blown out of a yellow bubble wand by a small child. Except, this wasn't explainable.Hux, a botanist is sent into The Shimmer along with a group of ex-military memebers to conduct research and try to figure out the cause of the mystery.





	For Those That Follow

No one understood what it was. 

 

They called it "the shimmer". The walls of the otherworldly substance had the appearance of oil on black pavement, of bubbles shimmering in the summer sunlight after being blown out of a yellow bubble wand by a small child. Except, this wasn't explainable. Teams of scientists from the Area X complex and the US Goverment had taken notes on the outside of The Shimmer. It all looked normal. The impacted area stretched out into the ocean by a few nautical miles, rounded over to surround a military base, an old fishing pond, a small grouping of homes and finally stopped a stone throw away from the Area X facility. But it was growing closer every day. They had kept it pretty hush hush, for it would've been unimaginable if word got out. Everyone would've been flocking to see The Shimmer, to try and explore it for themselves. 

A botanist sat on the bed in his room, bare feet brushing the red carpet below him. He wondered if today would be the last time he would ever see his home, his possessions. As far as Armitage Hux was aware, anyone who had gone into The Shimmer had never come back out. There was some hope in him that they were all still inside. Maybe, whatever was inside The Shimmer was better than what was happening in the world around them. 

Except, no one could give that conformation to Hux.

He had been personally contacted by Doctor Ventress, the leader of the Area X initiative. He was a botanist, and a skilled one at that, currently attempting to find a way to aide plants to adjust and survive climate changes and things such as acid rain. Smaller plants were simple, but you couldn't grow trees in a greenhouse. 

Hux slid a red leatherboud journal into his bedside drawer. All of his discoveries, his ideas, plans. They were all inside. He hoped they'd go to the right hands if he never made it back. 

Striding across to his closet, Hux put on a simple t-shirt, pants, and buttoned up his white lab coat. His hair was loose, not seeing any point in trying to style it, and his gold rimmed glasses were tucked into his pocket. 

He wasn't trying too hard, they were to be given standard issued uniforms before they went inside. Silently, the man hoped the uniforms wouldn't look too military. He was in no way built like anyone who had seen service, much less like he could ever do that many push-ups. Hux could hear a car door close from outside. His head turned towards the window. The white curtains that framed it were blowing slightly over the air conditioning unit. He took one last look in the mirror, then looked down at his brown watch before walking out of his house. 

The man that stood in front of the black, unmarked car wore a policeman's uniform. Hux wondered if it was an undercover disguise or a real cop. He wasn't going to ask. The officer opened the rear passanger door and let him inside before going around to the driver's seat. 

The two men didn't exchange words during the hour long drive. Hux took in the world around him. Aceraceae- trees, they were his largest conundrum. He couldn't help but wonder what he could've accomplished if it wasn't for The Shimmer. 

He had lost track of time somewhere on the highway, spacing out as he stared out the window, hardly realizing the car had stopped when a large white building appeared in front of him. He didn't even remember getting out of the car. Hux was lead inside the facility by the man who had driven him there. Still, they spoke no words to each other. The door clicked close behind him and a keypad appeared on the opposite wall. 

"Please place your thumb on the screen." The voice was metallic. Hux couldn't identify when it came from, or even if the voice was human or not. It bothered him.   
He pressed his thumb in the center of the small green screen and waited. After a moment, it vibrated under his hand, 

"Armitage Hux. Authorized- science." The voice came again. He tried to think of the last time he gave his fingerprint to a goverment program. He never had, at least not that he could remember. The wall slid open for him, revealing the inner workings of the complex. 

"Are you Armitage Hux?" A woman sitting behind a desk stood up suddenly, her pink hair falling behind her shoulders. 

"Yes, I was supposed to talk to a-"

"Doctor Ventress, of course. She's been waiting for you to arrive. Come with me, I'll show you to her office." 

She was so casually dressed that it made Hux feel uneasy. Of course, he wasn't in his fanciest attire, but everyone else at the facility seemed to be wearing a dull beige uniform, or a casual suit. The dull colors of their workware matched the grey walls of the facility. 

"How long have you been working here?" Hux asked the woman, trying to break the silence as they wandered down the corridors. She didn't respond at first, seeming to ponder the answer herself.

"Since the beginning." She responded, tugging at the keycard dangaling off of the blue lanyard around her neck. Abruptly, she stopped in front of a door, the windows blurred with some sort of film so no one could see inside. The woman slid her keycard across the access panel, punched in something too quickly for Hux to be able to make it out and turned to him as soon as the panel flashed green. 

"Good luck to you." She said simply before turning back to go back the way they had just came. 

Hux pressed his hand to the handleless door, a bit surprised as the weight swung out in front of him. His eyes landed immediately on a woman sitting behind a desk, her face partially obscured by her computer screen. The drapes on the windows behind her were open, exposing a partial view of The Shimmer. Hux stared at it, taken aback by the iridescent mass. 

"It's nearly hypnotic if you stare long enough." Doctor Ventress spoke, finally looking up at Hux. 

"I didn't realize how close it was to this facility." He mentioned, hesitantly sitting down in the chair in front of Ventress.

"It seems to grow about an inch or so every day." She dug the clicker end of her pen into the flesh of her thumb. 

"What happens when it reaches this facility?" 

"That's what you're going to find out for me Hux. We don't know what- or who it wants. What it's trying to accomplish, why it's here... all of the questions we need answered." She turned her chair so she was looking out the large window behind her,   
"You, and five soldiers. You're our next team, our fresh hope." She continued. 

"Five soldiers? I'm sorry if this sounds rude but, you want answers right? You want experiments done and samples retreived..." Hux let his hands rest on his knees, knuckles on his pale skin blushed red from stress.

"You want protection don't you?" She asked, turning back around,  
"This is your field research Hux, but you need people on your back, people trained in weaponry that can protect you."

He felt his face heat up. She had never disclosed to him that he was the key piece in the mission. The weight on his shoulders increased significantly. Ventress stared down at him, inspecting him carefully.

"I wouldn't have picked you if I didn't think you were capable. You'll have everything you need. I have full trust in you. Now, please, go to your quarters and relax, there's food in the cafeteria if you want it." 

Hux wondered if Ventress had ever sounded sincere before. He wouldn't say it, but in a way he felt like a pawn in a chess game. She was going to keep playing until she came out as the winner. He got up and walked towards the door quietly. 

"Where are the people that I'm going on the mission with? I'd like to get to know them." He asked plainly, still facing the door. 

"They're around."

\--

Hux hated how the dull grey jumpsuit looked on him. He stared at himself in the mirror, his gold-framed glasses sitting a little too low on the bridge of his nose. It was still him in the mirror, even through the dingy jumpsuit he could still see that. He sighed and shut the light off before wandering out of his quarters and into the hallway. Ventress hadn't specified on where the cafeteria was, so Hux was on his own trying to find it. 

Part of him wondered if he'd get kicked out for ending up somewhere he wasn't supposed to.

He decided to try his luck with an open doorway at the end of a short hallway.   
It seemed too quiet to be a cafeteria, but he had no clue how many people were even at the center. His black boots echoed on the floor. The room was empty except for a black plastic chair that faced a open window. Hux had barely noticed the man sitting in the chair, but when he did, he quickly tried to duck back out, unnoticed.

"Wait-" The man spoke suddenly, making Hux stop. He cussed under his breath and stepped backwards into the room. The guy had stood up from the chair and was staring right at Hux, examining him,

"You the scientist?" He asked, letting one knee rest on the chair he had been sitting on. 

"Eh- yeah, exploration group four." Hux's furrowed his eyebrows.

The man chuckled,   
"Figured, there aren't many new people around here and- Ventress had something about a scientist. You don't exactly fit the build of a soldier, bit of an easy guess."

"Excuse me?" Hux asked, hands curling into fists in his pockets. 

"I mean, no offense..." The man smiled and swung his leg over the chair so he sat backwards in it.   
"What do you speacilize in them? Chemicals? Tiny shit we can't see? Sexual behavior is a science too ain't it?" He continued, drawing a smirk on his lips.

Hux could feel his face grow red,

"I'll have you know I'm a botanist." He could hear his temper coming out in his tone. 

The man snorted,   
"Like- plants? They seriously fucking brought me here to risk my life to protect a guy that studies plants?"

"You don't know what's in there." His anger was bubbling up, and he was struggling to keep it all down.

"Look- they hired me and four other ex military members- trained in fucking combat to go in there. There's going to be dangerous shit in there- I don't think there's going to be killer plants." 

"You seem so sure of yourself." 

"And you seem like you're having doubts."

"Dunno, its pretty shit that I'll be going in there with someone I can't trust. This mission isn't for us, if we come out successful, we won't be names in the paper, or on the television. The six of us- we have to live with whatever goes on in there for the rest of our lives and we won't even be able to fucking tell people about it. We'll all have to go on like nothing ever happened." Hux regretted raising his voice, winicing as it cracked half way through. Kylo looked at him in disbelief. Both men stared at each other for a moment before Hux walked out the door, not even waiting to hear if Kylo would respond.

"Fan-fucking-tastic" Hux mumbled, wandering back down the hallways until he eventually found the cafeteria. There were red trays already prepared with dull looking food wrapped in plastic wrap. It looked pathetic, but Hux was hungry. He only hoped the portions on the mission would be better, but he was doubtful. He took a seat at one of the empty tables in the far corner. It's not that he had to go so far away, there was no one else in the cafeteria, but he didn't feel like talking to anyone else that might walk in. Hux unwrapped the food, scowling at the foul smell of it. At least the apple looked alright. 

\--

The following day came quicker than Hux would've liked. He scrubbed at his face with the bitterly cold water coming out of the sink. It flushed his face, making his cheeks and forehead go pink. He dressed in the tan pants and jacket that had been provided to him. His black boots were laced tightly so they were snug on his feet. Once more he checked his bag to make sure he had everything he needed and hoped to hell that someone else in the group could help him set up his tent. He had never been in Boy Scouts, and the only camp he had ever gone to was science camp but that had taken place on a college campus. 

The bag felt a little heavy on his shoulders, and it made the man feel weak. Maybe Kylo had been right- he didn't have the body of some sculpted soldier like he did. He pushed his glasses onto his face and headed out the door. The team was to meet just outside of the center's back entrance, each member escorted through the halls by a personal guard. It felt ridiculous. The soldier he had met the other day- Kylo, spotted him immediately and rolled his eyes. Hux watched as he turned to a woman next to him and started chatting with her. 

"Hey, you're Hux right? The scientist? A guy clapped his hand on his shoulder. Hux turned his head towards him, a small smile on his face. He felt sick of answering that question already. 

"Yeah- Im Hux, you are?" He raised an eyebrow,

"Jai Frentali, Marines- er, was rather. Ended up losing my leg and got released." He shrugged, letting out a small sigh,

"Alright, quit the chit chat. Anyone have any final questions before you leave?" Ventress asked, commanding silence from the group. Someone handed Hux a small gun, one that was smaller than the ones everyone else was receiving. He slid it into the holster at his waistband, already feelining uneasy about it. The group had remained silent as Ventress looked out at them. 

"Good luck to all of you then." She gave an uneasy smile before beaconing the guards to retreat with her back inside. 

The group watched the door shut, and all collectively turned to look at The Shimmer.

A woman with white-blonde hair tied back into a tight bun lead the way, Kylo trailing behind her. 

"We're not going to introduce ourselves?" Hux questioned, but only Jai had heard him. 

"Has no one else talked to you? Damnit- alright well, the first woman is Phasma, she was Special Ops and probably the most skilled in combat out of all of us. Behind her, that's Kylo.. he was Army. Luca and Park were both Navy and then there's you and me." He chuckled. Hux nodded slowly as he looked at the ground, watching the uneven footpath. He looked up just in time to see that Phasma didn't even hesitate as she walked straight into the wall of The Shimmer. Kylo looked straight up at it, as if trying to figure out the scale before following behind her. Luca and Park looked back at Hux and Jai,

"You two want to go first?" Luca asked, nodding their head towards The Shimmer. Hux gave a small shrug as pressed on. He wasn't sure what he was expecting The Shimmer's wall to feel like as he passed through it. He couldn't feel it at all. He dropped down to his knee and grabbed a small patch of moss off the base of a tree trunk. He slid it into a small plastic case and placed it in his bag. 

The way the gun hung on his hip, slapping against his leg with every step made him extreamly uneasy. He hated that everyone else in the group shouldered their large weapons with pride. Maybe he could ditch the weapon at some point, he had no intention of using it anyway. 

Every time the sunlight would peak through the trees, the sun beams would reflect the same iridescent pattern that the perimeter had. 

"It's not just a wall." Hux said, loud enough to make everyone stop.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kylo asked, turning around to face him. 

"The Shimmer, it's not just a border, the whole area is... it's made up of whatever the hell The Shimmer is. Look at the sun beams, you can see the same material that the perimeter was comprised of."

"So- if The Shimmer was a cup of jello, it's not just a wall, we're inside of the jello?" Park asked, staring at a sun beam that was dancing on her arm. 

"Exactly. Which means, Ventress was right. It is radiating off the impact site, the lighthouse. That's where we need to end up, that's how we can stop this." Hux explained, trying to ignore how his glasses would cloud up and then clear themselves off. 

"There's no way it's that damn simple, all those other groups that were sent in never came back. If it was that simple this would have been solved a long time ago." Phasma interjected. 

"Of course it's not that simple, there's going to be obstacles, but we still have more information than we did before." Jai was standing on a small boulder. Phasma just let her eyes roll. 

"We press on to the lighthouse then." Hux said simply, motioning forward with his hand. Jai jumped down off the rock, falling behind Hux to talk to Luca and Park. Hux returned to trying to observe everything, looking around for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. 

What was most unnerving was the fact that nothing looked different. It all looked normal, and the very idea made Hux's head spin. He had to struggle to swallow down the nausea creeping up his throat. Maybe he shouldn't have forced breakfast down this morning. 

"Maybe if they want us to be successful on these missions they should give us equipment that actually fucking works." Kylo started angrily, letting his compass fall to the grass below him. 

Hux walked closer, staring down at the compass. The arrows were spinning like crazy, he was surprised they hadnt snapped off completely. 

"What are you saying? That we're lost?" Park chuckled, shaking her head. 

"If we keep going straight we should be fine. If we get turned around, we'll just locate the sun." But when Phasma looked up, the sun was nowhere in eyesight. 

"I don't think that's going to work." Kylo mumbled before looking at Hux,

"How is that possible, a cloudless sky and no sun, no moon?" 

Hux thought for a minute before he attempted to give an answer,

"I don't think time exists in The Shimmer." 

\--

Hux had been right. By the time they set up camp they were all missing food from their bags, but none of them had eaten. Not that they could remember. The small, personal sized tents worried Hux. He didn't think they should all be separated, but he had also been glad that there was no chance that he would've ended up sleeping next to Kylo. 

When he woke, he reached out to turn off a new alarm clock that wasn't there. 

That's all he could remember of the morning. Waking up and reaching for his alarm clock. He couldn't remember anything before Kylo had thrown the compass to the ground either. 

As they walked, he stopped every once and a while, grabbing a new plant sample. 

"Anyone have aspirin?" Park asked, rubbing at her temples. 

"Headache?" Phasma asked, kneeling down and opening her backpack to dig for her medbag. 

"I'm so dizzy, it feels like my head is swimming and it hurts like hell." She was mumbling. Luca reached out and grabbed her hand, swearing quietly.

"Her.." They started, but briefly stopped and looked down at Park's hand,  
"I was just going to say she was ice cold before she switched. She's feverishly hot now." 

"Could she have cought an infection?" Jai asked, face lined in deep concern. Park collapsed down to her hands and knees suddenly, and Luca jerked their hand away. 

Park started violently coughing, a blue goopy substance dripping down from her nose. It started to come out of her mouth, painting the grass in a mass of blue. It puddled below her as she seemed to suffocate, her hands seeming to melt as the blue puddle consumed and bit into her flesh. Luca jumped away quickly, their eyes wide in horror as they watched their friend slowly dissapear into whatever the hell she had just coughed up. 

There was nothing anyone could do. 

They all remained silent, staring at the spot where Park had just stood. No evidence of her remained. The goo had consumed her whole. 

Kylo sat down on a fallen tree trunk, slowly pulling his hair down from the the tight hair tie that was keeping it in place at the top of his head. His hair fell down into his face, dented in the middle from keeping it tied up for- no one was sure for how long. The short hairs at his part line stuck up in different directions.   
"Shit." He mumbled, his breath shaky. No one in the group flinched at his sudden change in behavior. They were all too shocked, scared, they hadn't prepared for this. Nothing could've ever prepared them for the horrors of The Shimmer. Hux understood that now. They all did.

Phasma shook her head, letting the aspirin back tumble back into her medbag. 

"I don't understand." She sounded defeated. 

"I don't think we're supposed to understand." Hux looked around, his eyes setteling on Jai who was trying to console Luca. They were shaking, tears streaming down their cheeks. Hux looked away, walking towards Kylo and Phasma. 

Kylo was impressed, but slightly disturbed by the fact that Hux seemed nearly unbothered by whatever just happened. He wondered what weird things the botanist had seen before There was no way anything had ever been worse than that. Whatever had just happened to- her name escaped him, but whatever had just happened to her wasn't earthly. 

"Do you think it could be aliens? Of some sort?" Kylo questioned suddenly, squinting a bit as he looked up at Hux. The sun seemed to bounce off of his pale skin, and it was incredibly distracting.

"It very well could be. I mean, the- whatever it was- crashed through the atmosphere. There were reports of that, so whatever it is, it doesn't come from this planet." Hux put his hands in the pockets of his pants. 

"Someone from the last group was convinced it was some sort of 'punishment for our sins'" Phasma chimed in, sounding annoyed that someone would even suggest such a thing. 

"Maybe that's why they didn't make it back." Kylo chucked, picking a fuzz off of his pants. 

Jai had stepped on a broken tree branch as he stood up with Luca, putting the others on sudden high alert. Their eyes were brimming with red, flushed cheeks stained with tears. Jai rubbed gently at their back,

"I think we should move along." He said quietly, looking up at the rest of the group. Phasma nodded silently and slung her bag back over her shoulders. She pointed onwards and the rest of the group followed behind, not speaking a word. Every once and a while Hux would ever off the path to collect sample. Each time, it made less sense. Translucent vines, flowers of multiple colors originating off of the same stem and root systems. Mutations, fascinating but not as bizarre as Hux was expecting. 

"Is that the old military base?" Jai asked, catching the attention of the rest of the group. They all peered over at the large, fenced off building. The fence was broken, severely overgrown by foliage in places.

It looked like it hadn't been touched in decades. 

The hole in the chain link fence was large enough for the group to squeeze through. 

"Keep your weapons ready. We don't know who- or what the hell might be in there." Kylo stated, taking the large gun from off of his shoulder. Hux felt a sinking feeling in his chest. He couldn't bring himself to unholster his gun. 

He'd take his chances.

They entered in through what was most likely a large lounge area at one point. Everything had been left behind in the evacuation and the large dust covered couches were calling to Hux and his aching feet. 

"Jai and Luca, can you cover upstairs? Kylo...Hux check out the south end." Phasma clicked the safety off on her gun. 

"No- Phasma what the-" Kylo started, but Phasma held up her hand and silenced him. 

"You need to go with someone Kylo, I'm not sending you out by yourself. Hux is more than capable of helping you." 

Kylo turned to glare at Hux, who looked like he had never been more annoyed in his life. 

"Fuck it- fine let's go." 

"Do you ever get tired of being a brat?" Hux asked raising an eyebrow. 

"Nah, kinda a specality moment actually." Kylo tried to hide the smirk in his voice as he turned away. He pushed a few loose whisps of hair that had fallen out of its scrunchie behind his ear. His hair was starting to become a mess but he figured it would look even worse if he kept it down- weirdly kinked in the middle from how tight the scrunchie band was. Plus, it wasn't like they were going to find some shower where he could wash it to try to make it look halfway decent. 

They waded cautiously down a hallway, their combat boots echoing off the bare walls surrounding them. Kylo ducked into a room of three thin walkways framing a algae infested pool. Something about the calmness made him feel nervous.

"I don't like this room." Kylo mumbled, adjusting the weapon strapped over his shoulder. He glanced over at Hux, who was standing next to him.

"We're the only people here Kylo." Hux's voice came from across the room. The figure next to Kylo blurred and dissolved, leaving nothing behind. He whipped around to face where the voice had come from, only to watch that figure disappear too. He turned the saftey off on his gun, slowly sliding it off his shoulder.

Hux stepped into the room, peering around before his eyes landed on Kylo.

"Who the hell are you talking to?"

Kylo turned around so fast he almost knocked himself over. His gun was aimed straight at Hux, who looked at him with wide eyes,

"Ren... what the fuck are you doing?" He asked loudly. Kylo slowly lowered his gun, his hands trembling, He walked towards Hux and lightly pushed him back into the hallway. 

"I don't like this place." His hand felt warm on Hux's shoulder. No matter how many times Hux tried to shrug him off, Kylo wouldn't let go of him until they were far away from the room.

"I told you- we don't know what's in here, you can't just go walking off on your own. Now, come on, I bet there's a room in here decent enough for us to rest in." Hux mumbled, rubbing at his shoulder where Kylo had grabbed a little too hard. 

Phasma had found that room for them. 

It was empty, nearly clean except for a few bits of dust and debris. The windows were partially obstructed by a large tree, but there was enough clear space for a lookout to keep watch. Unfortunately for Hux, he was lookout that night. 

He sat a chair down in front of the window furthest to the left, the only one that seemed to be completely clear of foliage. Hux wished he knew what day it was, and found himself wondering if it was even nighttime or not. The Shimmer had a life of its own. 

The botanist took his glasses off and pulled a soft white cloth out of his breast pocket. He carefully cleaned the smudges off of the glass with delicate, circular touches. When he let the frames settle back on his face, he noticed something abnormal. He squinted in the dull light, trying to make sure he wasn't just seeing shadows. 

He wasn't.

Vines from the tree had crept into the room where he and his crew slept, strangling their way in through tiny cracks along the edges of the windows. He grabbed a flashlight from his bag, the small, yellow orb of light giving Hux a clear enough view of the plant. 

The leaves were a dark purple, their veins orange and pulsing. They were pulsing like they had blood coursing through them. Hux was afraid that if he squeezed one too hard it might excrete its blood all over his hands. 

He let the thing fall back to its natural position and wiped his hands off on the sides of his pants. 

"Hux?" The voice was quiet and raspy, but it still made him jump. He scanned the faces of the crew. Phasma, Luca and Jai were all in a quiet sleep. The light beam from his flashlight landed on Kylo's face, which revealed the man propped up on his forearm, his eyes squinting from the sudden presence of light. 

"Would you not shine that thing in my fucking face?" He grumbled and Hux quickly clicked it off. Kylo sat up completely, more hair had fallen loose from the hair tie but he made no effort to try to fix it as he rubbed the sleep hastily out of his eyes. 

"Go back to sleep Ren, I've still got watch covered." 

"Incredible that you think I could possibly be getting any sleep. Were these leaves always here?" 

It made Hux wonder if Ren had managed to get any sleep since they entered The Shimmer. 

"No, they crept in overnight." He touched one of the leaves delicately, not watching Kylo as he carefully stumbled over to him, checking the ground before sitting down next to the chair he sat in. 

"Does that -er this, rather, happen outside of here too? Plants just randomly... finding homes where they aren't supposed to be." 

"Life finds a way." Hux looked out the window, the leaf pinched delicately between his thumb and forefinger grew warm. Kylo looked up at him, frowning,

"They showed up overnight there's no way that this is normal." 

Hux smiled and turned towards Kylo,

"Who said anything in nature is normal?" 

Kylo gave a small shrug that was barely visible in the night lighting.   
"I bet you're having fun then. Discovering all this. The other... other botanists are going to be jealous I bet." 

Hux snorted, but quickly frowned, concerned that he might've woken someone up. But only Luca stirred. 

"If we get out of here, I can't speak a word of any of this Kylo. I told you that before. Any research I do, it'll benefit Southern Outreach and Area X, but..."

"Shit..."

 

Hux couldn't pinpoint why Kylo's demeanor had changed so much since that day at the facility. It had to be The Shimmer stirring with his brain. But he wasn't going going to trust him. Kylo's plans for The Shimmer were much different than his own. Ren wanted to survive, hewanted to get out and go back to having a normal life, pretend this never happened. Hux wanted to research, he wanted to better understand The Shimmer so if it were to one day consumed civilization, maybe then others would be able to live at peace within its walls. 

For all Hux knew, the soldier could've been advancing a system of trust just so he could later turn on him. 

As he looked around the room, he noticed the pulsing vines had begun to creep up Jai's prosthetic leg, which sat near where he slept. 

"You think we shoul wake them up before these vines strangle them to death?" Hux asked Kylo, not even shreveport if he was listening.

"Nah. Let them sleep. If that's their fate then that's when they get for being able to sleep here." Kylo snorted as he stood up and cautiously walked back to where he had been laying. Hux felt grateful to be alone once again. 

He quickly learned to regret not trusting his impulse. 

Phasma, Jai, and Kylo had all managed to carefully avoid stepping on the leaves of the mutated branches when the morning came. Luca hadn't been so lucky, and was the first to find out that the blood pulsing through the veins of the leaves was poisonous. None of the group had seen it happen, but the blood had injected itself into Luca's bloodstream forcing their own blood out of their body as the orange blood took over. All of Luca's veins were visible and seemed to glow a wild orange. That's all Hux could tell from far away, the pool of blood too large for him to attempt to get anywhere near them. 

The team that came in as six, had quickly diminished to a group of four.  
Yet, they continued on- it seemed like the only thing they could do. 

\--

They left the old military base fairly quickly after the loss of Luca. All too haunted to speak about it, yet each member of the group's thoughts were consumed with questions and the fear that they might be next. Kylo was beginning to wonder if his hope of getting the hell out of The Shimmer was slowly turning into nothing more than a dream. He let himself bring up the back end of the group as they walked once more through what seemed to be endless land, his eyes burning holes into the back of Hux's head. 

"Where are we going exactly?" Jai asked, shifting uncomfortably as he walked behind Phasma. Getting around had started to be increasingly more difficult, his prosthetic leg no longer comfortable as the dressings began to ware down from overuse. Every step he took made his nerves feel like he was grinding his teeth. He wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to walk for. 

"We're walking until we get to the lighthouse." Phasma stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

Jai did not respond, choosing to stay silent until another forest approached ahead of them,

"I say we go in." 

"We go around, it's safer." Phasma insisted, making Jai laugh,

"Safe? What exactly about this mission has been safe?" 

"Jai..." Hux warned gently, but Jai waved him off,

"Oh come on Hux, you know you don't agreed with her. This is your mission and she's barely spoken to you because she thinks nothing of you!" He was yelling now, standing between Phasma and Hux. 

"You've got some nerve Jai." Phasma took a step closer to him. Kylo interjected suddenly, pushing past Hux in order to stand between Jai and Phasma, 

"Both for you need to stop this shit right now." He warned.

"No one asked you." Phasma glared, 

"Really? Well guess what, Im talking anyway. Either your two quit it, or you choose your own damn path and follow it." Hux had never seen Kylo try to act with authority. 

"If I go my own way, I'm going alone. No you, no Hux, and certainly no Jai."

"Be my guest." Jai shrugged,

Phasma didn't speak another word as she adjusted the backpack sitting on her shoulders. She turned on her heel and began to walk the perimeter of the woods. Jai was still fuming, breathing heavily as she walked away. Hux, on the othe hand hadn't moved, feet seemingly attached to the ground below him. Kylo stood in front of Jai- his hands on the man's shoulders,

"You okay?" He asked calmly.

"It's inside me, Ren. Hux was right- it's all around us, and now its inside of me. It's living in me." The man held up his dirt stained hands so they were in front of Kylo's face. Kylo examined the man's hands, noticing that his fingerprints seemed to swirl and spiral.   
He swallowed hard, seemingly hypnotized by what he saw. 

"How long-" 

"It doesn't matter. You'll get out of here Kylo, you and Hux. You'll beat this, I know you can." 

"You're not letting go Jai, not yet." 

The calmness of Jai's smile was haunting.

"You're right. I've still got time, I say we press on." 

Hux noticed the way Kylo's hands shook as he dropped them from off of his shoulders. He wondered how much their brains had been altered since entering The Shimmer. 

This time, Hux brought up the back, falling line behind Kylo and Jai respectively. Jai ended up leading them to some sort of small residential area, the front lawns adorned with human shaped shrubs. Hux snapped a leaf off of one of them, using the stem to twirl it the between his thumb and pointer finger. 

 

"How are you doing plant boy?" Kylo asked, pausing on the front porch of a worn down home covered in vibrantly hued moss. Hux was using a knife to scrape a sample off of the yellow painted siding, carefully letting it fall into a petrie dish without touching it. 

"A lot better if you'd stop calling me plant boy, Ren." Hux mumbled, glaring at him before walking through the door.   
Kylo stared at him, mumbling something under his breath that was inaudible to Hux. He didn't understand how the scientist was still so calm after everything they had been through. If he was cracking, he certainly wasn't letting it show. 

Hux kneeled in front of Jai who had taken a seat on the dusty, but plush couch in the living area. He examined the man's hands, staring down at his moving fingerprints. They swirled and twisted under Hux's delicate touches. 

"It's inside of me." Jai smiled, glancing at Hux who wasn't writing something down in a notebook.

"Once we reach the lighthouse, once we get out of here I'm sure they'll be able to help you. I'm sorry I can't explain this." Hux sounded sympathetic as he clicked his barely working pen closed. 

"Out? No, Hux. I'm sorry. Ive never felt peace like this, I don't think I'll be leaving." 

Kylo walked back into the room, leaning his gun up against against the wall, 

"It's all clear. We should be good for the night." He yanked the hair tie out of his hair, grimacing as it painfully ripped out some tangled hair with it. 

"Hux... do you mind? For a moment, Id like to have a word with Kylo." Jai asked, looking over at him. Hux complied, leaving the room and heading up the creaky old stairs. As his fingers brushed the banister, it left a shiny streak, revealing the beautiful wood that was below. 

Kylo took a seat on the edge of the couch cushion next to Jai,

"You and Hux are going to be the only two members left." He said simply.

"Yeah- until we go at each other's throats." Kylo chuckled, shaking his head. 

"Have you considered calling him by his name? He doesn't call you soldier, but Ive never heard you address him as Hux, or even Armitage."

"Armitage?" 

"That is his name. Look, Im not saying you've gotta love the guy, just treat him with a bit of decency until you leave here." 

Kylo swallowed something down that collected at the back of his throat.

-

The three men spent Jai's last day siting around and talking. Jai talked about his life before, about what he had hoped to accomplish if it wasn't for The Shimmer. He disappeared into the night without Kylo or Hux realizing it.   
Hux found a piece of paper that Jai presumably tore out of his notebook.   
It read,

"Reach the lighthouse, look at the ocean and breathe. The Shimmer is in you, there it will remain forever."

Hux handed it off to Kylo without a word. 

"I think we should keep going." Kylo suggested, making Hux pause in his tracks. 

"To the lighthouse." Hux confirmed, throwing his backpack on his shoulders before handing Ren his gun.

-

They had been closer than Hux's had expected. The gentle sounds of waves lapping against the shore grew louder with every step. Kylo stood at the clearance at the edge of the woods, turning around to face Hux. 

"Do you mind if we have a word?" Kylo asked, sitting down on the edge of the small embankment. Hux's face twisted into confusion, he couldn't help but notice the Kylo's hands were balled into fists. 

"Yeah that... that would be fine." Hux put his stuff down and sat down next to Kylo. 

"Why aren't you scared?" He started with, not making eye contact with him.

Hux took hi sir glasses off and slipped them into the pocket of his shirt.   
"I guess- I wouldn't say I wasn't scared. I just understood the risks and tried to become okay with the fact that I would probably never get out of here." He gave a small shrug, placing the palms of his hands together in front of him.

"So you did this..."

"For the benefit of science, yes."

Kylo took a deep shaky breath,

"Maybe I can help you." 

"What do you mean Ren?"

Kylo shifted slightly so he could hold his now exposed palm out in front of Hux's face. 

Sprouted out from his pale skin was a single flower, one that was simply too mutated for Hux to identify. It was growing out of him, and he wasn't too afraid to know what would happen if he tried to pull it out. 

"It's inside me." He whispered, watching as Hux examined the plant growing out of his hand. When Hux said nothing, he spoke again.

"Armitage..." His voice broke, words clogging his throat,   
"back at the complex... I'm so-"

Hux had been shocked at the fact that Kylo knew his name, but he held his hand out to stop him anyway.

"That was... a long time ago, Ren."

"I never even gave you a chance. And now-" 

"What about now?" 

"Can ask you something incredibly stupid?" 

Hux let out a half hearted laugh,

"Go ahead, Ren." 

"Kiss me?" 

Hux's focus shot up, his eyes wide as he looked at Kylo in shock.   
"What?" 

"Please.." He begged, eyes going glossy as tears began to form in his eyes,   
"This is it Hux, for the both of us. There's nothing left to lose." 

"Stand up." He commanded, standing up and waiting for Kylo to do the same. The man stumbled a bit as he stood up, grabbing onto Hux's shoulders to gain his footing. Hux grabbed both sides of his jaw with one hand,

"You're a brat." He mumbled, making Kylo smirk,

"I know I am." He leaned forward, pressing his bodily entirely into Hux's as their lips pressed together. Hux became hyper aware of everything around him. The heat radiating off of Kylo's chest, the flowers in his palms tickling at his waist, the smell of sweat and dirt filling his nose. Their lips were dry, cracked and threatening to split if their kisses were too rough. Yet, neither of them seemed to care. 

They we're to open distracted to hear the waves behind them pick up, growing larger. Hux pulled back, letting his hand slip up Kylo's cheek. A flower had began to sprout from behind his ear, its bright color contrasting with his dark hair. 

"Who's the plant boy now, Ren?" Hux chuckled, leaning in to kiss him again.   
He felt his face flush as Kylo pushed his groin up against his leg. 

"Me." His voice was quieter, broken. 

"What in the hell's name turned you on?" He asked , letting their lips touch as he talked. 

"My palms aren't the only place that has flowers growing. Just- you're a botanist and I thought about-" 

"Here?" Hux asked, unsure. 

"Beach, but for the love of everything, grab the tarp from your bag." 

Hux moved away from him, grabbing a rolled up tarp from the under straps of his back. He abandoned the rest of his items in he woods. 

Kylo had stumbled onto the beach, all the way down to the waterfront. He put the tarp down and they both unlaced their boots, sand sinking down into their worn out socks. 

Hux watched as Kylo took off his pants before sitting down on the tarp, the material crunching underneath him. He took off his pants and boxers at the same time, making Kylo bite his lip. 

"Take yours off too, rather hard otherwise."

Kylo's face flushed down husband neck as his fingers slipped into the elastic band and pushed down. In the spot that normally would've been filled with pubic hair now contained a small crop of flowers. Hux touched the tops, slightly amused that it made Kylo's cock twitch. 

"I don't have anything, lube or that, with me." Hux warned, unsure what his preference might be. 

"Can I try something instead?" He cocked his head to the side as he looked up at Hux, who nodded. 

Kylo went to his knees and asked Hux to lay down. He went to straddle his thigh, but Hux topped him. 

"You've gotta earn it Ren." He stated, making Kylo whine in defeat. Ren crawled back off and brought his mouth down to Hux's cock. 

Hux tangled his fingers into Kylo's hair as his cock was enveloped in a wet warmth.

-

He had pulled Kylo off right before he came close to cumming. Hux watched as the man rutted against his thigh, looking annoyingly gorgeous with the flowers surrounding his dick and littering other places on his body. Hux had his hand wrapped around his own cock as Kylo kept letting his name slip from his lips. Neither of the movie expected to last long, too enveloped in each other and lost in the moment to care about anything other that each other. Kylo, laid down, burying his face in Hux's cheek as he continued to grind into his thigh. 

Hux could feel Kylo shudder as he moan in his ear.

-

They laid side by side on the tarp, still on the beach, Kylo tucked into the curve of Hux's body. Neither of them spoke. They didn't need to. Anything that would've come out of their mouths would've just hurt too much. Hux felt like his brain had been removed and scattered all over the inside of The Shimmer. He knew there was no chance of a normal life if he walked out. So he didn't. He stayed, his thumb doing little circles on Kylo's shoulder. Kylo was slowly becoming more plant than person. 

"Armitage? I love you."

Hux normally would've been put off by someone saying it so soon. It was too fast, and under normal circumstances wouldn't have been the right time. But this wasn't normal. This was the end.

"I love you too, Kylo." 

Kylo smiled at use of his first name. 

-

They let The Shimmer win. After the sun had set, they had managed to fall asleep. Unaware of the giant waves that crashed upon the nighttime shore, they were stolen by the sea.   
The sea swallowed them peacefully, Kylo still grabbing onto Hux. 

They wouldn't be the ones to save the world from The Shimmer.


End file.
